Friday, August 15, 2008

done.... for now

matt = licensed private pilot

i just got back from my checkride and unfortunately i have to go to work right away. more to come when i get some time to write. for now though, this private pilot is off to work.


awesome

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

oral exam cram fest

tomorrow is the big day! jason and i have been working together a lot. we've been meeting as much as we can. i've found that cold beer and studying for the oral work well together and have implemented that in our studying techniques. the past 3-4 days have been spent doing nothing but studying for the written and the oral, mixed with some flying and watching the olympics. we've been practicing the basic maneuvers and all the different landings. on a landing note, sunday i had an eventful landing. a little excitement never hurt anyone right.......... i think i'll leave it at that since my mom now is reading this blog. on a side note, my landings yesterday were just fine. greasing that soft field landing really feels good.

anyway, im sure jason must be getting tired of all things flying. he has two students cramming for our checkrides tomorrow and i don't think he has anytime for himself. i've seen him more the past two or 3 days than anyone else and he's doing a great job getting me ready. i feel pretty good about the checkride. i just need to digest the oral exam guide and make a run over tallahassee commercial just in case my examiner wants me to fly over there.

well, i think thats enough for today. time to hit the books and order a new headset. i found a great deal on a new DC headset that i have been wanting. now i have an extra for passengers. man, i cant wait until tomorrow is over with. i cant wait to be a pilot.

Friday, August 8, 2008

almost there

on wednesday i did my long solo x-country. i flew from TLH - CTY - GVN - TLH. it was long and uneventful if you count out george (auto pilot) being a little squirely due to turbulance on the first leg. i took out the nice 172 that had the auto pilot and gps making my trip that much easier and allowing me to enjoy the flight more. the only bad thing was that i had to stop in gainsville. as you know im a seminole and all that blue and orange around the airport was making me sick. i needed 3.2 hours of solo x-country time to meet mins and i ended up getting 3.4 after being vectored in to TLH and taxing to the other side of the field. all i need to do now is rack up 6.7 hours by wednesday. that way i meet the minimum time before my checkride.

i was supposed to go up today, but its pretty cloudy and i have to leave for work in about 3 hours. i might head over for an hour or so just to get airborne. what can i say... its fun. the written exam is now scheduled for monday, my checkride is wednesday, and my instructor leaves for law school the following morning. it was really nice of him to stick around for an extra two weeks to finish me and another student up. the poor guy is couching it with a friend while he waits for his to eager students to finish. he really is a good guy. too bad he's gonna be a gator in few weeks.

well i suppose that will be it for a while. im just gonna pound out the rest of the time this weekend and practice some maneuvers with jason. i'll post again when i'm a licensed private pilot. for now i'll leave you with a qoute from darren byrd....

"Blue up, Brown down...that's all you need to know."

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Monday, August 4, 2008

pilotage

lots of flying this weekend! i got 3 x-country flights in for a total of 5.9 hours. the first was a early evening flight from TLH to ABY to TLH that lasted about 2 hours and ended with a night landing. it was a smooth flight and i even brought the girlfriend along (she took all the pictures). yesterday at around 10 my instructor jason and i went over to PFN and back for the second x-country. it was a little bumpy out as the clouds were broken at around 3000 and we had to fly below them. we did a full stop and actually borrowed the courtesy car for an hour or so to get some lunch and cruise around panama city for a little bit. heading back, jason turned on his ipod and dosed off a bit while i got us back to base. he told me, "don't get lost or you'll get me in trouble". every now and then he would have me point to where we are on the map to make sure i actually knew what i was doing. i suppose it was a little test as i made the trip back to PFN a few hours later that day for my first solo x-country! you really feel more like a pilot when your "going somewhere" instead of practicing maneuvers or hanging around the pattern. all in all it was a good weekend for me racking up almost 6 hours of flight time. all that's left for the license is the night x-country, which im doing tonight, and a long solo x-country which i am scheduled to do on tuesday. i have a lot on my plate right now as i need to take the written and prepare for my checkride which will be next week sometime. on top of that, i have a paper due for class tomorrow. i really should be doing that right now but instead i'm procrastinating by adding to my blog. oh yeah, i also need to study for a final that will be on friday. wish me luck.

heres a few pics from the flight to ABY and back.

here she is 4NM


nice shot of downtown. look its doak campell stadium. go noles!

on our way north leaving TLH behind

jason and i looking for a check point

fueling up